Freezing Cold: Commercial Businesses & Busted Pipes

Servpro of Reno Southwest had been on the scene for a couple of hours by the time we arrived at the Department of Agriculture.

Crews here were busy pulling water from the carpet.

Workers showed up to this morning to roughly an inch or more of water.

It made its way down hallways, into offices, storage areas, and even the conference room.

The director's office was not even spared.

“This occurred at approximately 6 am this morning when the fire department got a call. We aren't quite sure how it happened except the extremely low temperatures and a fire riser that broke was in a vestibule that was on the outside,” says Ed Foster, with Nevada's Department of Agriculture.

You can see where the water burst on the window and froze and then oozed out the door onto the walkway.

And the water kept on going in the conference room.

Because the doors were closed, the humidity rose causing the framed pictures to separate from their backs.

While this is becoming more common at local businesses, Servpro of Reno Southwest says once the temperatures start to rise above freezing for a couple of days the scenarios will play out at private homes.

“Most likely the pipes are frozen now since the brake has happened in copper pipes, what's happened is they are clogged with ice. As soon as that un-thaws you are going to see, as soon as it warms up, temperatures warm up you will see them de-thaw. At that particular moment you'll see a lot more residential, says Travis Conklin from Servpro of Reno Southwest

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